


Nishimura Have You Ever Even Seen a Dragon

by saviorofauldrant



Series: Natsume Week 2019 [2]
Category: Natsume Yuujinchou | Natsume's Book of Friends
Genre: Gen, dnd, natsume week 2019
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-02
Updated: 2019-07-02
Packaged: 2020-06-02 22:30:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,307
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19450774
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/saviorofauldrant/pseuds/saviorofauldrant
Summary: “Play,” Natsume hesitated to interrupt them, old anxieties creeping up as he watched all his friends get excited over something he didn’t understand (a feeling Natsume hadn’t had in a while), “Playwhatexactly?”“DnD!” Nishimura and Sasada exclaimed simultaneously, all their enthusiasm for this ‘d and d’ turned onto Natsume, who held back a flinch at their volume.





	Nishimura Have You Ever Even Seen a Dragon

**Author's Note:**

> Natsume prompt: Adventure  
> Me, a nerd: DnD

Natsume frowned, setting down a tray of tea and cups Touko had sent him up with, rolling Nishumura and Sasada’s excited ramblings in his head as he attempted to pin down exactly what it was they were trying to tell him, “’D… and D’?”

“DnD!” Nishumra excitedly echoed, almost painfully happy grin stretched across his face as he leaned across the small tea table Touko had let Natsume borrow, “Taki’s brother bought us a guide book and everything!”

“Taki’s brother bought _her_ a guide book,” Sasada corrected, her usual bossy tone overshadowed by her equally excited grin on her face, “I wanted a Dungeon Master’s Guide, but the Player’s Handbook probably _is_ the best way to start—”

Tanuma’s solid warmth brushed against Natsume’s side as the other boy sat down, lowering a second tray of treats onto the table, a smile heard in his voice even as Natsume kept his confused gaze forward on Sasada, “What was that about it being Taki’s book?”

Sasada huffed but Taki laughed from beside her, “It’s fine, it’s fine,” Taki said, lifting her hand slightly off the large, thin book in front of her in silent permission for Nishimura to slide it across the table towards himself, “It’s not like I can play alone, anyway.”

“Play,” Natsume hesitated to interrupt them, old anxieties creeping up as he watched all his friends get excited over something he didn’t understand (a feeling Natsume hadn’t had in a while), “Play _what_ exactly?”

“ _DnD_!” Nishimura and Sasada exclaimed simultaneously, all their enthusiasm for this ‘d and d’ turned onto Natsume, who held back a flinch at their volume.

Before Natsume could say anything, not that he had thought of anything to say in response to that, Kitamoto casually wacked Nishimura on the back of the head. Ignoring his best friend’s responding yelp, he looked at Natsume with his usual gentle grin, “The acronym for ‘dungeons and dragons,’ you know, the roleplaying game.”

Natsume did not know.

“Um,” A quick glance around the table confirmed that no one else was as confused as Natsume, making the boy even more self-conscious as his voice came out soft and unsure, “So we… play roles? Like pretend?”

Natsume had never played pretend before, but he understood the basics from watching other children. As he understood it, it wasn’t too difficult; you pretend to be someone you’re not and play out a scene with someone else who is pretending to be someone they’re not.

The others’ excited expression faltered a moment, making Natsume’s heart sink—he got something wrong, again. Before Natsume could open his mouth and say something _else_ wrong, Tanuma brushed the back of his hand against Natsume’s underneath the table, making the shorter boy look up and meet his eyes, dark and gentle as always, “I’ve never played before either,” Tanuma smiled gently down at Natsume before turning to address the others, “Could we all go over the basics again?”

Nishimura laughed, scratching the back of his head sheepishly, “Well it’s not like _I’ve_ ever played either—”

“And you’re acting like an expert?” Kitamoto scoffed, glaring at the side of Nishimura’s head as a smile twitched at the corner of his lips, “Even calling it ‘dnd’ like you play it all the time!"

Nishimura held the open “handbook” to hide the bottom half of his face, a petulant pout visibly hidden but still heard in his voice, “If I ever played you _know_ it would have been with _you_ …”

Taki spoke up and Nishimura brightened up at the sound of her voice, gentle and sweet as she smiled at the boys, “I’ve never played either, though I always wanted to. My brother says he’s played a few times with his friends and college and thought I might enjoy it too.”

Everyone faced Sasada, who, naturally, wasn’t fazed by the unsaid question as a proud grin spread across her face and she crossed her arms superiorly, “I may not have played,” Kitamoto and Nishimura rolled their eyes, waiting for the ‘but’, “ _But_ I’ve read pdfs, online guides, listened to podcasts, and watched videos since the moment Taki said her brother bought that handbook!”

“So,” A shy but teasing smile spread across Natsume’s face, comforted by his friends’ communal inexperience, “For two days?”

Sasada turned her nose up, ignoring the rest of the group’s laughter, “I’ll have you know I already know exactly what I’m doing! I’ll be an _excellent_ DM.”

Before Natsume could even think about working up the courage to ask, Tanuma leaned in a bit and whispered, “Dungeon master.”

Natsume nodded, having no idea what that meant.

Nishimura perked up at Sasada’s claim, though, “You’ll DM? Nice! That’s, like, the job no one wants or something.”

Kitamoto snorted under his breath, “Like you’d know.”

“It’s the _best_ job,” Sasada insisted, “I get to decide the NPCs and the story and everything!”

“Yeah, so all the boring stuff.”

“The _interesting_ stuff!”

Taki, ignoring Nishimura and Sasada’s confusing argument (at least, confusing for Natsume), scooted closer to Natsume and took her book back from Nishimura, opening the cover and looking for what Natsume assumed was a particular page, “You know, Natsume, I bet you’d make a good cleric.”

Kitamoto perked up from the opposite side of the table, “So we’re picking out classes and races today?”

“I call the dragon race!” Nishimura interrupted his Sasada-related insult mid-sentence and exclaimed excitedly across the table.

Sasada scowled, “Multiple people can be the same race, Nishimura!”

“Yeah well no one else can be a dragon ‘cause I called it.”

Dragons were a concept Natsume was familiar with, but he had no desire to be one. Tanuma, a blessing on Natsume’s life, coaxed Taki into opening the book the “race” section and started explaining to Natsume that they’d each pick one and create a character from it.

“Well obviously Tanuma should be and elf cause he’s so _tall_.”

“No, Nishimura,” Tanuma quipped back, not looking up from the book, “You’re just awfully short.”

Kitamoto barked out a laugh at Nishimura’s putting face, “Maybe instead of a dragon you should be a dwarf!”

Natsume frowned down at the pictures and descriptions, ignoring his friends’ banter around him. He would probably have an easier time understanding if they were types of yokai or something…

“We can look at classes first,” Taki gently interrupted, helping Natsume turn the pages until he was faced with _different_ pictures and descriptions, “Like I said, you’d make a good cleric.”

“Cleric?” Natsume asked, skimming through the page until he found the word.

Sasada leaned in across Taki, a huge grin on her face, “Clerics are healers and priests—which, yeah, sounds exactly like something Natsume would do.”

Well, Natsume though, he’d met yokai that could heal, and he was _not_ one of them—

“Natsume should be a ranger,” Nishimura insisted, “Cause those are the ones with animal companions—I think-- and that way he can bring his fat cat everywhere like he does in real life!”

Said fat cat perked his head up from were he was ignoring them all, laying peacefully in a sunny corner of the room, and let out a loud indignant meow before plopping his head back down and falling back asleep.

“Hmm,” Tanuma hummed, pleasant smile on his face as he traced his fingers down to a different section, “I think Natsume would make a good druid, since he likes nature so much.” 

These were too many words being thrown in Natsume’s direction and he smiled sheepishly, looking up at his friends through his bangs, “I don’t think I really understand what these all mean, can we do everyone else’s first?” If Natsume watched them do it, he might learn a bit more.

Sasada nodded aggressively, and Nishimura was already sliding the book back over to his side, “Then let’s make my dragon character!”

**Author's Note:**

> Does DnD exists in Japan? I have no idea. Does Japan have the exact same DnD guidebooks we have in America-- in English? No. No it does not. Is that going to stop me? No.  
> I didn't want to actually pick out all six of their classes/races ESPECIALLY not in story form so I did not. It's hard to make someone else's DnD character cause you instinctively base it off of them, but you should be basing it off of what they would choose for themselves.  
> Also this is 100% based off the fact that I always wanted to play DnD and only got a chance for the first time a couple years ago. And that wasn't until my first year if college so these kids are already ahead of me.


End file.
